Latin Americans ecstatic about new pope

BUENOS AIRES -- Latin Americans burst into tears and cheers Wednesday at news that an Argentine cardinal has become the first pope from the hemisphere, expressing hope that he will better understand the region that is home to more Catholics than any other.

Cars honked their horns through the streets of Argentina's capital and television announcers screamed with elation at the news.

"It's incredible!" said Martha Ruiz, 60, who was weeping after learning that the cardinal she knew as Jorge Mario Bergoglio will now be Pope Francis.

She said she had been in many meetings with the cardinal and said "He is a man who transmits great serenity."

Catholics began flooding toward the Metropolitan cathedral, where Ana Maria Perez and a few dozen other women had been waiting for the announcement.

"He is going to be the pope of the street," she said, referring to Bergoglio's habit of taking the subways alongside working-class Argentines.

"It's a huge gift for all of Latin America. We waited 20 centuries. It was worth the wait," said Jose Antonio Cruz, a Franciscan friar at the church of St. Francis of Assisi in the colonial Old San Juan district in Puerto Rico.

"Everyone from Canada down to Patagonia is going to feel blessed," he said after exchanging high-fives with church secretary Antonia Veloz.

Bergoglio's former spokesman, Guillermo Marco, told Argentina's TN television station that the new pope "has enormous pastoral experience" with a humble bearing.

"You can count the occasions when he used a car with a chauffeur," Marco said. "His choices of life as cardinal have been to have a normal, common life."

That common touch, as the new pope issued his first words to the crowd, also drew the attention of Bishop Eugenio Lira, secretary-general of the Mexican Conference of Bishops.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing, when he started saying, 'Good afternoon,' just like someone saying hello to a friend," Lira said. "He will certainly be the pope who is closest to the people of Latin America. He knows the problems of Latin America very well."

The bishop at the head of Venezuela's church, the Rev. Diego Padron, remarked, "All of Latin America is dropping to its knees to pray, to thank God for this extraordinary gift that he has given us."

"I am convinced this pope will make extraordinary changes, beginning with his gestures today," Padron said, referring to Francis' bowing to the crowd at St. Peter's Square, "asking for a prayer, showing great humility and at the same time displaying a great change."

"Never has a pope been seen to ask for the blessing of the faithful and today, well, that's what the pope did."